2012: First Look: 2012 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse

If you made a list of all of the problems with the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport convertible and your first item was "it's too slow," there's now a solution to your qualm. It's called the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, which somehow manages to add a dollop of power to the already incredibly powerful supercar.

Vitesse means "speed" in Bugatti's native French, and the Grand Sport Vitesse has it in spades, thanks to a little extra power underhood. Bugatti took its 1000-horsepower Grand Sport and tweaked it along the lines of the world record-holding Super Sport coupe. When it finished, it was left with a Veyron SS-inspired roadster with 1200 horsepower on tap.

Bugatti said that it accomplished this by enlarging the 8.0-liter W-16 engine's four turbochargers and intercoolers, along with beefing up the Veyron Grand Sport's chassis to withstand the fury of 1106 pound-feet of torque. Bugatti also says that the car carries many of the design and driving characteristics of the Veyron Super Sport, including the SS' sleeker front end (which reduces drag) and revised suspension tuning.

The Bugatti Veyron is nothing if not a car with an otheworldly top speed, but the Grand Sport Vitesse's manufacturer was surprisingly mum about the car's top end. The standard Grand Sport was limited to 217 mph, enough to make it the world's fastest production convertible. The extra oomph from the Grand Sport Vitesse's engine could push that number up, but the Vitesse's open-roof form means it likely won't reach the Super Sport's 268 mph level.

It could reach the Super Sport's level in price, however: Bugatti hasn't announced just how much this high-performance droptop will cost, but a "standard" Grand Sport starts around $2 million, while the Super Sport coupe commands roughly $3.3 million. Seeing as the Grand Sport Vitesse blends aspects of both cars together, we wouldn't be surprised if its price tag slots somewhere between those two extremes.

Look for the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse to make its official public debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March.

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